Valen’s Vanity Square

Woke up at almost noon today! Well, today is a public holiday, Hari Raya Puasa, which is an Islam festival that Muslims celebrate after fulfilling one month of fasting, so I am to get as much as rest I need. Have been so deprived of sleep recently!

Speaking of Hari Raya, I actually forgot to send out greetings to my Malay friends and ex-colleagues! Jeez, my brain has been occupied with too many working deadlines recently.

If you’re running a business and have Muslim clients, I hope you’re not forgetful like me! It’s important to send festive greetings to your clients during festive seasons, as a way of expressing your thanks for their support. It’s a way of telling them you appreciate their partnership and look forward to a long-term business relationship.

One common way to thank important clients, for any occasion, is by giving gift hampers, usually food stuffs. Don’t forget to include personalized note cards when sending out those gifts. A hamper or present without a card lacks of sincerity.

For me, may be I can still wish all my Muslim friends here - Selamat Hari Raya, and may this holy occasion brings you and your family joy and happiness!

*Yawn* So sleepy… haven’t even started working and I already felt like my brain had done a whole day’s work. Well, nobody forced me to stay up till 1 am every night, so it’s my own fault if my eye bags and dark eye circles are getting obvious these days.

Luckily, tomorrow is a public holiday, and I can sleep for as many hours as I like. But it’s not like a total rest day for me either, lots of washing and cleaning to do, especially the laundry. The thought of it just makes me shudder…~~~

OKay, I’ll worry about that when I wake up tomorrow. For now, I really wish I have a Bunn Omatic coffee maker so that I can get 10 cups of brewed coffee non-stop. Just to keep my eyes open till the end of today.

Oh my, it’s only Tuesday and I am feeling so tired and sleepy. Well, thanks to my sister!

I was sleeping over at my mom’s place, sharing a room with my sis. I went to bed at 1 am, dozed off, then woke up when my sister came back from her late night supper (and she wants to lose weight?) at 1.30 am. I didn’t get to sleep after that as she continued to read some book until I don’t know when. I couldn’t sleep when the lights were still on.

I have no idea what time it was when she switched off the lights. I only knew that I was so darn sleepy at work today. I think I will continue to be a zombie in the officefor the next 2 working days. I really look forward to this long weekend, so that I can replenish those lost hours of sleep!

And it’s time to seriously clean up the house. Haven’t been taking care of the house since I started working. It’s so dusty….

There are also a lot of old stuffs that we need to clear, either to give away or find a place to store them. It would be easy if we had one of those huge Duramax Vinyl Storage Sheds; we can just dump all the things inside, close the door, and lock it. Done. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. But of course that will not happen, as to have such a shed we would need to have a big garden in order to place the shed.

But there are some things we can’t just dish aside and pretend they’re not there, like the lizard droppings. Ewwwweee! Hate them. So this long weekend is the perfect time to vacuum the house and get rid of those unsightly and dirty organic matter. Of course I’m not going to do it. Hubby will! Haha!

It’s going to be another long weekend this week, as Friday is a public holiday. It’s great to be a Malaysian.

For those living in KL city, the nearest destination to spend a short 3 days 2 nights holiday will be at Genting Highlands, where there are theme parks, amusement parks, casinos, magical performances, shopping outlets and restaurants, so one can eat, shop, have fun and entertainment all at the same time. And the weather is cool up there on the hills. Don’t have to sweat like a pig even when walking outside the hotel.

I hardly go to GH though, despite it’s only a 45-60 minutes drive from where I stay. Hubby says he’s not a kid anymore; he finds no purpose visiting the game arcades or the theme park (the ticket to which is quite expensive too), he’s not interested in gambling, and he complains that the food there is expensive.

Well, I do agree to his points, but I still think that it’s the cheapest and nearest holiday spot to chill out once in a while, and the hotel room package is very cheap during weekdays.

I know there is one of the many holiday spots in US that also combines excitement, entertainment and shopping altogether is Branson, in Missouri, US. Of course, they have more to offer there such as outdoor activities in the nature - boating and fishing in lakes, camping, hiking or birdwatching in the hills, etc. Probably hubby would change his mind about GH if they took away the casinos and replace them with these activities, haha!

If you are interested to spend a fun-filled holiday in Branson, you can always check out the internet for the best deal on Branson vacation packages.

For me, perhaps I have to come up with some really good ‘reasons’ to persuade hubby to take me to GH one of these days. ;P

Oh my gosh, all my jeans, pants and skirts have gotten so tight and difficult to button up. I have got some serious belly fat to lose! Seriously!

I think it all started about 2 months ago. I still remember that day, when a bunch of us went to that pancake shop to have lunch. It was a very heavy, nevertheless satisfying meal. But little did we know that there was a huge cake waiting for us back in the office, because the boss decided to celebrate the birthdays of three staffs.

The cake was delicious, but… I think it must have exceeded some ‘threshold’, that I felt my waistline and belly expanded overnight! Since then, my pant, skirts, jeans never feel the same again when I wear them.

Well, I seriously have to do some serious exercise now, like 30 minutes on the elliptical machine every alternate days. May be I should also fully utilize my sister’s treadmill at my mom’s house since I will be staying there for two nights.

Hubby is going to be away from KL for two days. I suppose he wouldn’t be so busy when our local insurance industry has advanced to the stage where people can check and buy online term life insurance or other types of policy. He then wouldn’t be traveling around to ‘educate’ the insurance agents on how to recruit and train new agents, because by then most manual tasks can be managed through the internet. But then, probably hubby would lose his job too. Okay, that will be a serious problem. It better not happen. Haha!

After 6 days of work-free happy times, it’s time to get back to work and reality. It’s like I had been to cloud nine and now fallen back to earth. Haha!

I still have 7 days of leave remaining for this year. I am not planning for any holiday soon after this, although my sister is asking me whether I want to join her to Cameron Highlands this October, while hubby’s friend is trying to persuade us to join them for a trip to Bali in January 2011.

The thing is, I foresee October to be a very busy month for me in the office. As for hubby, he doesn’t like the idea of spending money just before Chinese New Year either, since it is the festive season that will suck a big amount of cash from our pockets.

I do have marked down certain days to be off from work, simply to clear my leave and have a break from work. All I will do is sit at home, laze around, watch tv, surf the internet and play computer games on my laptop, etc.

I plan to take more days off during Christmas. Although I won’t be skiing at some snow mountain or sliding on the snow with snow sleds, I definitely will enjoy the joyous festival atmosphere in cool places - such as in the shopping malls. Haha!

Yeah, the next great thing to look forward to is Christmas. 4 months to go….